Over 60 bodies retrieved from rubble in Shejaiya in Gaza City after Israeli raid

Palestinian medics retrieved more than 60 bodies from under the rubble in the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City after Israeli troop withdrawal from the area, the Civil Defense Agency said on Thursday.

“Dozens of bodies are still trapped under the rubble in the neighborhood,” spokesman Mahmoud Basal told a press conference.

He said Israeli forces destroyed more than 85% of the residential buildings in the neighborhood.

“Shejaiya has become a disaster area that is not suitable for habitation,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army said that it had ended its military operation in the Shejaiya neighborhood after a two-week incursion, leaving behind a massive trail of destruction.

Basal said at least 50 people are also believed to have been killed in an Israeli offensive into Tel al-Hawa west of Gaza City.

“Many families are trapped by the Israeli offensive, with rescuers unable to reach them,” he added.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Over 38,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 88,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.